Source: Tobacco farmers set for middle-income before 2030 – herald
Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
WITH Zimbabwe poised to produce over 300 million kilogrammes of tobacco and earn more than US$1 billion from the crop’s exports this year, an average tobacco farmer will enter the upper middle-income bracket before 2030.
This was said by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka on Thursday at the Kutsaga 75th Anniversary Research Symposium in Harare.
The symposium ran under the theme “Beyond 75 years, Kutsaga Innovation and Agricultural Excellency in the next 25 Years”.
Zimbabwe has set a vision of being a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income society by 2030.
According to the World Bank, for the 2024 fiscal year, upper-middle-income economies are those with a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita between US$4 466 and US$13 845.
“When we get US$1 075 000 000 from tobacco sales spread around 135 000 growers each one will get an average share of about US$8 270 to take home. Through tobacco, farmers have become upper-middle income,” Dr Masuka said.
Minister Masuka said the country was likely to get a record-breaking crop output of between 320 and 330 million kilogrammes as a result of increased productivity, improved curing facilities and a reduction in post-harvest loss.
The highest production was 296 million kilogrammes in the 2023 marketing season.
“Continued investment in research and development have led to this fate. Over 70 varieties that they have produced, which are disease resistant, high yielding and with styles desired by the market, have led our tobacco to be the most sought after among 60 countries where it is exported,” he said.
A total of 85 percent of producers are small-scale growers and over 60 percent of the growers are beneficiaries of the land reform programme.
“Innovative financing for tobacco has also led to growth, as 93 percent of the crop is contracted and mediated by banks and institutions that see value in the tobacco value chain transformation plan (TVCTP).
“TVCTP sought to increase tobacco production to 300 million by 2025 through vertical expansion (increase in yield per hectare, reduction in post-harvest loss) and not horizontal (area expansion),” he said.
He said one of the tenets of the TVCTP was the increase in value addition and beneficiation from two to 30 percent.
“Sadly, we are off track on this as we are getting a meagre US$1, 5 billion against a possible US$60 billion from cigarettes, but we have engaged various jurisdictions to assist in this regard.
“We have also missed the US$5 billion industry this year, but as we review the TVCTP we will look at lessons learnt to come up with practical solutions,” he said.
An expert who requested anonymity said the majority of smallholder tobacco farmers were still failing to make ends meet due to the high cost of production, low yields and low prices.
“The average earnings of US$8 000 per household exclude cost of production and with an average family size of five, the income per capita is whittled down to US$1 600.
“If we take out production costs from the gross income, the net income per capita will be less than US$1 600, indicating that we are still not in our desired upper middle-income status,” he said.
Meanwhile, statistics released by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) revealed that the country is only 15 million kilogrammes shy of reaching the 300 million mark.
A post by TIMB on its X (formerly Twitter) platform says “As of day 67, Zimbabwean farmers have sold 285 026 842 kilogrammes of tobacco, 95 percent of the 300-million goal. Round of applause, we are on the home stretch of an incredible season, thanks to the resilience of our farmers and the strength of the industry. Every bale brings us closer to a record-breaking milestone.”
COMMENTS